🏇 Belmont Stakes Odds & Positions 2026: Favorites to Win at Saratoga

Kentucky Derby winner Golden Tempo is back. So is Derby runner-up and 2-1 morning-line favorite Renegade, along with three other Derby ex-pats for the 158th Belmont Stakes. And we have our Belmont Stakes odds and post position to help your wagering choices.

The third and final jewel of Thoroughbred racing’s Triple Crown is Saturday, June 6 from Saratoga Race Course in Saratoga Springs, N.Y. It is the third and final year the upstate New York track plays host to the “Test of the Champion.” Renovations to Belmont Park will be finished in September and the race returns to its home and traditional 1 ½-mile distance in 2027.

The Belmont Stakes is the featured event on one of the busiest and most exciting days in Thoroughbred racing, featuring 14 races, including six Grade 1s. Fox brings you nine hours of coverage across its three stations - FOX, FS1, and FS2 - starting at 12:30 p.m. ET.

🐎 Belmont Stakes odds & post position 2026

Here are the latest odds and post positions for the 2026 Belmont Stakes, with the morning-line odds.

🥇 Belmont Stakes favorite

Renegade (2-1)

The morning-line Kentucky Derby favorite went off as the 5.65-1 second choice in the Run for the Roses five weeks ago and nearly made history by becoming the first rail-sitter to win the Derby in 40 years. He missed that historical feat by a neck, when 23-1 Golden Tempo outkicked him at the wire and you can blame that rail slot and a brutal trip that featured collisions with two other horses.

Now, the son of standout sire Into Mischief gets a much better post (4) and a much cleaner runway to display his lethal late finishing kick – a late kick that nearly won him that Derby and did win him the Arkansas Derby in March. Renegade hasn’t missed the board in six starts (2-3-1) and hasn’t finished out of the exacta since his debut at Saratoga last August, so he’s about as reliable a board-hitter as you’ll find in this field.

Now… here comes the “but.” Renegade fights the Belmont’s latent prejudice against favorites. Only seven favorites this century have won the Triple Crown’s final jewel and only five in the last 15 events. He also fights the Belmont’s prejudice against closers, especially in a race likely to feature a pace far slower than what he saw in the Derby.

🎯 Belmont Stakes long shot to watch

Growth Equity (12-1)

It’s hard to fit in the mental Samsonite that Hall of Fame trainer Chad Brown does not have a Belmont Stakes victory. But here we are – and here he is – with one of his three entries in Belmont 158, one who not only hasn’t run a Triple Crown race, but skipped the entire Kentucky Derby trail.

Normally, this would give us pause, because colts who ran the Derby captured 13 of the last 21 Belmont Stakes. It would also give us pause because we’d wonder who exactly this son of 2016 Derby winner Nyquist has beaten and if he has the tactical speed and stamina to cover 10 furlongs.

But Growth Equity sprouted from an underrated, but fertile, breeding ground for Belmont winners: the Peter Pan Stakes at Aqueduct May 9. That 1 ⅛-mile, Grade 3 has sent two winners: Tonalist in 2014 and Arcangelo in 2023, to Belmont Stakes glory and Growth Equity’s two-length victory in the Peter Pan displayed the tactical speed and stalking style – one aided by a lack of pace-setters in this field – that is a trademark of Belmont winners.

❌ Belmont Stakes pick to avoid

Golden Tempo (9-2)

You read this right. The horse we touted to the clouds and beyond to factor in the Kentucky Derby not only factored, but won the Run for the Roses at 23-1. And yet, we’re not nearly as bullish on his chances to repeat Sovereignty’s Derby-Belmont double of 2025.

There are two prime reasons for our skittishness and neither have anything to do with the quality of this Curlin colt, which – as we saw in 3D living color five weeks ago – is undeniable. The first is the expected soft pace of this race, which doesn’t set up for Golden Tempo’s lightning-bolt finishes from the clouds. Trainer Cherie DeVaux, who became the first female trainer to win the Derby, addressed this concern when she said “We just have to hope that a pace materializes with his running style. If that does not happen, (jockey) Jose (Ortiz) is going to have to come up with ‘Plan B,’ where he doesn’t give himself so much to do in the later stages.”

That’s not ideal. Neither is the fact that as the Derby winner, Golden Tempo will pull plenty of money, meaning the value we feasted on in the Derby will be pulled off the table here. Golden Tempo could hit the board again, but he likely won’t be doing it near his 9-2, underlay value.

🐴 Belmont Stakes info

• When: Saturday, June 6
• Post time: 7:04 p.m. ET
• Where: Saratoga Race Course (Saratoga Springs, N.Y.)
• How to watch: FOX/FS1/FS2

📌 What to know for betting the Belmont Stakes

• First off, since the 1980s, Saratoga is known as a speed-favoring track. That means you want to find and you want to bet the pace-pressers and the stalkers. This bodes very well for Chief Wallabee (a presser) and stalkers Commandment and Emerging Market. Other stalkers include longer shots Vitruvian Man, Ottinho and Growth Equity.
• Why? The typical Belmont Stakes winner is a pace-presser/stalker who runs on the lead or close to the lead because seven of the last 10 races were won by horses who were within 4 ½ lengths of the lead after the first half-mile. That trend extends to 16 of the last 20 winners and even includes last year’s winner–closer Sovereignty. He was fourth after the first half-mile, but only 1 ¼ lengths back.
• Why 2.0? Sorry, Renegade and Golden Tempo. Closers and deep closers are not the preferred genus of Belmont Stakes winners. Only two horses: Jazil in 2006 and Creator in 2016, were 10 lengths or further back at any call. Only three of the last 10: Creator, Sir Winston in 2019 and Essential Quality in 2021, came from further back than three lengths.
• Go deep. Over the 157-year history of the Belmont Stakes, favorites came home 66 times. That’s a 42% win rate, significantly north of the 33% typical win percentage for favorites. But before you line up to bet Renegade, know favorites have won the Belmont Stakes zero times at Saratoga, only seven times this century and are 5-for-their-last-15. Know the average $2 payout on a winning ticket in the last 10 Belmont Stakes is $15.10. Take out Triple Crown winners American Pharoah and Justify and 17 of the last 21 favorites failed to run to their odds. Dornoch at 17-1 two years ago and four times in the last decade, the winning horse came in at 10-1 or greater odds. A fifth (Tonalist) was 9-1.
• On the exotics front, favorites may not win, but they have a habit of hitting the board. That makes value hard to find. Seven out of the last nine $2 Belmont Stakes exactas have paid $96 or less, lowlighted by last year’s $13.20 chalkfest of Sovereignty, Journalism and Baeza – none of whom went off at greater than 7-2. The $1 trifecta has paid $312 or less in seven of the last nine years. For a real shot at real money, take a shot at the $1 superfecta, which has paid at least $1,000 14 times in 25 recent events. That means sprinkling longer shots like Growth Equity and Powershift (both 12-1) on your tickets.

📊 Belmont Stakes betting trends and stats

• Stakes, Stakes, Stakes: Want to winnow the field of contenders? Start with eliminating any horses who don’t have a graded stakes victory on their CV. This is as dominant a trend as you’ll find, considering 11 of the last 12 and 12 of the last 14 Belmont winners checked this box. Take it out further and we find 17 of the last 25 winners own a graded stakes score.
• Who’s Your Daddy? Sovereignty kicked dirt on this trend last year, since his sire (Into Mischief) never won a Grade 1 stakes race at 1 ⅛ miles or longer. But he’s the exception rather than the rule here, because pedigree matters as much – if not more – than any other high-profile race. When you get into bloodlines, you find 15 of the last 17 and 22 of the last 26 Belmont winners came from a sire who won a Grade 1 race of 1 1/8 miles or farther. Again, as in the last two events, the cutback from 1 ½ miles to 1 ¼ may factor here.
• Go Inside: Let’s take Saratoga’s speed bias and factor it into our favored post positions. Since 1905, 24 horses starting on the rail – most recently Triple Crown winner Justify in 2018 – found the Belmont Stakes winner’s circle. That’s eight more than any other starting position. The next best post? No. 3, with 16 winners, most recently Arcangelo three years ago. Post 5 (15 winners), Post 7 (14), Post 2 (14, including Sovereignty last year) and Post 4 (10) have all sent double-digit winners home.
• Trust Todd: Much like Bob Baffert is for the Kentucky Derby and the late D. Wayne Lukas was for the Preakness Stakes, Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher is your go-to trainer for the Belmont Stakes. Starting with Rags to Riches in 2007 and continuing through Mo Donegal in 2022, Pletcher has won four of these. Riding shogun are his eight runner-up finishes; the last with Mindframe two years ago, and four third-place runners. Since 2000, Pletcher’s charges have hit the board 17 times from 42 starters – an absurd 40.4%. This means keeping an eye on his two entries: favored Renegade and Powershift.

How track conditions affect the Belmont Stakes odds

• According to the National Weather Service, there is a 30% chance of showers expected to hit Saratoga Springs Saturday, increasing to 40% by Saturday night. Saturday’s forecast high is 86 degrees.

🏇 How to bet on horse racing

Understanding the basics

• Win: Picking the horse to finish first.
• Place: Picking the horse to finish first or second.
• Show: Picking the horse to finish first, second, or third.

Placing your bets

If you’re at a racetrack Saturday and you want to make a Belmont Stakes bet at the window, here’s how: 

• Say you want to make a Win bet on Emerging Market. You tell the clerk: “Twenty dollars on No. 8 to win in the 13th race at Saratoga.” For an exacta box, you tell the clerk “A $2 exacta box with No. 3, 4, 7, and 8 in the 13th race at Saratoga.”
• Betting apps like 1STBET or Twin Spires are also available in many states. They allow you to make various wagers ranging from Win-Place-Show to vertical and horizontal (multi-race) exotics.

❓ Belmont Stakes odds FAQs

What is the difference between Morning Line odds and live odds? 

The Morning Line odds are the initial prices set by the Saratoga track handicapper (usually released the Monday before the race). These are simply a prediction of how the public will bet. Live odds are determined by the actual money wagered in the parimutuel pool. Because the Belmont Stakes is a "pool-based" betting event, your final payout is determined by the odds at the moment the gates open, not the odds when you placed your bet.

What is the "Favorite Curse" in the Belmont Stakes? 

As noted above, favorites have won only seven times in the 21st century, with the last being Mo Donegal in 2022. He capped a three-year run of favorites that included Tiz the Law (2020) and Essential Quality (2021). Before that, you have to go back to Triple Crown winner Justify in 2018, then his fellow Bob Baffert charge and Triple Crown winner American Pharoah in 2015.

This trend has made "alternative" betting strategies—like backing middle-market horses or long shots—increasingly popular for those looking to maximize their ROI.

How many horses can run in the Belmont Stakes? 

The Belmont Stakes field is limited to a maximum of 14 starters.